Video: Schoolyard bleachers latest target of metal thieves

When it comes to scrap metal, almost anything is fair game, even the schoolyard bleachers. That’s what police say two Abington men took Monday.

Elaine Allegrini

When it comes to scrap metal, almost anything is fair game, even the schoolyard bleachers.

That’s what police say two Abington men took Monday from the Woodsdale School on Chestnut Street, then lugged the metal and hardware through the woods to the yard of one of the suspects, where they were cutting it up with power saws.

A neighbor called police when he heard power saws cutting through metal at the suspect’s Cynthia Road house two hours after seeing the suspects carrying aluminum through the woods.

Cutter said police seized multiple cutting tools and the aluminum that had once been part of the bleachers at the school’s baseball field.

“They take the newest metal and modify and destroy it to make it look old, like it’s junk,” Cutter said.

Scrap metal is the commodity of the times, reaping top dollar at recycling yards.

Those looking for a quick buck, some believed to be supporting drug habits, are taking metal from houses, public buildings, vehicles and now schoolyards.

In Plymouth, the metal of preference this summer is found in catalytic converters that are routinely being ripped from vehicles, the latest outside a Carver Road fitness center while the owners were inside working out.

Downspouts have been snagged off houses, copper from a church roof, metal plates hauled from railroad tracks and even a traffic signal box taken in Brockton.

Copper pipes are high on the metal-thief’s want list, selling for about $3 a pound at the scrap yard after being ripped out of houses, often vacant or foreclosed structures that have to be retrofitted before they can be occupied.

In at least two instances, including one earlier this month, Brockton firefighters have responded to empty houses filled with gas that flowed from pipes broken by metal thieves, posing a danger not only to the culprits but to the neighborhood.

“It’s almost like a sport to some of these people,” Brockton Fire Chief Kenneth Galligan said earlier. “They see a vacant house and say, ‘Let’s see what we can get out of it.’”

On Monday, it was empty bleachers that tempted the two suspects caught cutting the metal at 51 Cynthia Road, property that abuts the Woodsdale School.

Cutter said a neighbor reported hearing noise and seeing people lugging something through the woods about 6 a.m. When the power saws were buzzing at 8 a.m., the neighbor called police.

When police arrived, Robert Maines, 25, of 467 Randolph St., Abington, was running behind the house, attempting to hide a circular saw, according to officer Lisa Donelan’s report filed in Brockton District Court.

“John Clifford (28, of 51 Cynthia Road) was located in the side yard with a large amount of aluminum bleachers and parts,” Donelan wrote.

Police said Clifford told them he found the aluminum in the woods behind his house; Maines said Clifford asked him to come over and help him cut aluminum.

Officers went to look for themselves and found that platform seats and hardware that holds the bleachers together were missing from two sections of the seating behind the school.

Town Manager Phillip Warren said it will cost about $1,000 to replace the two sections.

“The scrap is only worth a few hundred dollars,” said Warren.

“This is not our first metal theft,” he said.

Late last year, vandals got into a town-owned house at Strawberry Valley Golf Club and ripped out the copper pipes, damaging a newly installed boiler so extensively that it had to be replaced.

Construction sites are also targeted by metal thieves, forcing heightened security and driving up costs.

Pipes, hydrants, manhole covers and more must be kept inside or in highly secured areas and delivered to job sites daily to protect it from theft, according to Warren. That adds to the cost of transportation and labor, he said.

“With all these items, the scrap metal is nowhere near the cost of replacing the item,” he added.

As for Maines and Clifford, they were arrested and charged with larceny over $250 and malicious destruction of property over $250. They entered not guilty pleas at their arraignments Monday in Brockton District Court and were released pending Nov. 3 pretrial hearings.

Elaine Allegrini can be reached at eallegrini@enterprisenews.com.

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